When he ran for president, Trump promised to harass and terrorize immigrants. Now he is doing everything he can to fulfill those promises.

Already he has banned Muslims and refugees, threatened sanctuary cities and criminalized millions of undocumented immigrants. His Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents are separating parents from their children, deporting innocent people and spreading fear in immigrant communities across the country. The budget he just released slashes funding for the social safety net in order to spend billions of dollars building his wall, increasing his deportation force and expediting deportations.1

Senate Democrats have the power to block funding for Trump's wall and his massive deportation force. Recent reports show they may be willing to fight to stop Trump's hateful agenda.2Can you help make sure they stand strong?

Republicans need 60 votes to appropriate any money for Trump’s wall or his deportation force. They cannot get to 60 without the support of at least eight Democratic Senators, which gives Democrats the power to stand up for immigrants, block Trump and act like an opposition party rather than a minority one.

Democrats must remember that the majority of Americans are against Trump and the Republican Party. They rejected Trump’s agenda of hate and xenophobia by almost three million votes. Seventy-seven percent of people oppose mass deportation of all undocumented immigrants.3 Sixty-six percent of people oppose the wall.4

As stand-alone bills, efforts to fund Trump’s xenophobic agenda should be non-starters. That is why Republicans will try to package funding for wall construction and immigration agents into bills that will be more politically difficult to block, like must-pass spending bills to keep the government running. Fortunately, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is already pushing back. In a letter delivered to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week, Schumer threatened to block an upcoming appropriations bill, which must pass by April 28 to avoid a government shutdown, if Republicans include funding for Trump’s wall.5 It’s an indication that Leader Schumer is willing to play hardball, but it’s not clear that everyone in his caucus will join him.

We cannot let any Senate Democrat cave to political pressure from the right-wing and give Republicans the 60 votes they need to fund Trump’s hate. That is where progressives come in. We have to show Democratic senators that we will have their backs if they act boldly and that we will hold them accountable if they fail to stand up for immigrants.

Trump wants to harass, deport and reject people who have come or are dreaming of coming to the United States seeking refuge from conflict, lives free from persecution and better economic opportunities for their families. For as long as Trump is president and extremist right-wing Republicans are willing to enable his agenda, Senate Democrats will have a choice: enable Trump’s agenda of criminalization and deportations, or resist and obstruct his racist regime at every turn. It is up to make sure they do the right thing.